 |
| Artist's concept of the Helios
IIA satellite. (CNES
photo) |
Kourou, French Guiana, Dec.
17/Satnews Daily/
¾
Arianespace’s Flight 165 received its formal go-ahead for a liftoff on
Saturday, Dec. 18 as a result of the successful launch readiness review
held Thursday at the Spaceport in French Guiana.
Arianespace said the review
validated the launch readiness of Flight 165's Ariane 5 vehicle and its
payloads, as well as the infrastructure at the Spaceport and the network
of tracking stations. With the review completed, final preparations and
arming of the launcher will be performed today, followed by its rollout
from the Final Assembly Building and transfer to the ELA-3 launch zone
today.
Flight 165 is a northward mission that will deploy its payloads into
Sun-synchronous orbit. As a result, the liftoff is set for a precise
moment, rather than the traditional launch window of minutes or hours
for a mission to geostationary orbit. The launch time is set for 1:26
p.m. local Kourou time on December 18 (16h26 GMT, 5:26 p.m. in Paris,
and 11:26 a.m. in Washington, D.C.).
Primary payload for Flight 165 is France's Helios IIA military
reconnaissance platform, which was developed and built in a program that
also involves Belgium and Spain. The Helios IIA program is managed by
France's defense procurement agency (DGA), with the French CNES national
space agency handling the lead responsibility for the satellite and its
launch.
Helios IIA is accompanied by six small-sat auxiliary payloads: four
Essaim electronic intelligence (ELINT) system demonstrators for the DGA;
the CNES Parasol payload for studies of the Earth's climate, and the
Spanish Nanosat micro-satellite technology demonstrator.
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